Rise of the Phoenix
by Dis Lexic
Summary: Apparently dieing before your time causes trouble for more than just you, as I discovered after burning to death. Now I'm in everyone's favorite shithole, Gotham, trying to make my way as a freelance hero on the Dark Knights turf.
1. Chapter 1

Rise of the Phoenix

Apparently dieing before your time causes trouble for more than just you, as I discovered after burning to death. Now I'm in everyone's favorite shithole, Gotham, trying to make my way as a freelance hero on the Dark Knights turf.

 **So, I've decided to continue with this story. For those just joining us, this story is inspired by DarkLord98s challenge on his profile, rules below:**

 **Challenge: A guy from the real world thrown into DC universe starting from The Batman 2004 and continues from there to to either: teen titans cartoon or young justice**

 **Rules:**

Rule 1: the guy must be in the age between 14-19. If you start from 14, he must be 19 if you go to young justice or the teen titans time line from the batman 2004

Rule 2: No yaoi(Gay), Yuri(lesbian) or bi. I don't have any problem with any of the mentioned sexuality, but i don't want to read or write stories like that.

Rule 3: The character which you throw from the real world can have a power from a show of your choice, but it can't be overpowered or from the DC universe itself.

Rule 4: You can choose will your character be a hero, anti- hero, anti- villain or villain.

Rule 5: the major events must be allowed to happen but, the character is allowed to twist a little bit.

Rule 6: regarding the rule 3, you cannot give the character these following powers/skills: Rinnegan, Sharingan, Byakugan or Death Note.

Rule 7: if you are going to do a pairing, the age difference between the characters involved must be 2 years or less. And make the pairings and relation ships realistic, not something like this, a new guy just meets the teen titans and Raven is already devoted to helping the guy. and the if you do give the character a power that passes on genetically he is allowed to have the maximum of 3 girlfriends. no more.

 **So yeah, OC but not and Outside Chronicles (for once) and his powers are that of a Phenex from DXD. For those who don't know, thats Pyrokinesis, Aerokinesis and immortality along the same lines as Wolverine. By that I mean he can regenerate quickly. I'll probably add in another few fire based abilities later but for now lets dive straight in. Enjoy!**

Chapter 1

Time for a quick lesson in Caveman 101. Fire hot, ow! And now for another obvious statement. Dieing sucks. Trust me, I know both of them first hand since I was burnt to death, flash fried in a fireball that quite literally came from nowhere. Fortunately, it didn't take long for the fire to kill me since, for the few seconds I was burning alive, it REALLY FUCKING HURT!

What I wasn't expecting was to wake up. When I next opened my eyes, it was to find myself standing in a perfectly circular chamber with a large number of mirrors and screens of various shapes and sizes covering the walls, each showing a different scene. In the center of the chamber was a swivel chair surrounded by keyboards and control panels, each of which was connected to an arm that allowed it to be moved.

Lounging in the chair, fast asleep with a string of drool leaking from his mouth was a man with short, brown hair that looked like it hadn't seen a brush in weeks, a five day beard, pale skin and a pair of square, black framed glasses that had fallen crooked. He was wearing tired looking jeans and a tatty shirt that had once been white, but had long since turned grey from to many washings.

I hesitated for a moment, before deciding that there was no point in standing around all day, so I walked over to the sleeping man and gently shook his shoulder. He snorted and tried to roll over, only to fall of his chair with a crash, before shooting to his feet with his glasses on upside down.

"I'm up, I'm up!" he shouted, "I wasn't sleeping on the job, honest!"

His accent placed his nationality as british and his awakening showed his eyes to be green.

"Wait, you're not the boss," said the man as he spotted me, "How did you get here?"

"Thats a very good question," I said, "Last thing I remember is burning to death."

The young man raised an eyebrow and turned in his chair to face his many control panels, bringing up a file on screen with my face on it.

"Hmm, lets see, Richard Fenix, age 16, species human, scheduled to come up here never. Huh, interesting."

He turned to me.

"This is you isn't it?"

I nodded.

"Why is species on their?"

"Their are more things between heaven and hell than appear in dreams of men," said the young man, "I watch over a lot of worlds and many different species so its kinda necessary."

"What do you mean?" I asked, "Who are you anyway?"

The man looked up.

"Oh, sorry," he said, "I should have introduced myself. I'm Dis Lexic, an Overseer of the Multiverse. Its my job to keep this segment of Creation working and making sure that any issues are dealt with before they get big enough for the man upstairs to get involved."

"So what, your an Angel or something?" I asked.

"Not exactly," said Dis, "I'm more like a technician. The Angels are the Almighties strong right arm, his police force if you will."

"Right," I said, not quite sure what to make of the explanation, "So why am I here exactly?"

"Because you died before your allotted time," said Dis, "It happens occasionally and always makes a total mess of things."

"Why?"

"Because the Souls can only go to heaven or hell after their allotted time has past," said Dis, "You were supposed to live for another 90 years and die of a heart attack during the discovery of Aliens."

"Wait, aliens are real?"

"Yep, Kryptonians if I'm reading this right. Apparently the Krypton in your universe isn't scheduled to explode any time soon."

"Huh," I said, not sure what to make of that little tidbit, "So what now? Are you going to send me back?"

"Your body in your old dimension was nearly completely destroyed," said Dis, "Besides, time passes differently here and you've already been buried. You can't move on and you can't go back to your old dimension, the only thing I can do is shift you sideways."

"Sideways?"

"Into a different dimension," explained Dis, "It'll be one you recognize and I expect you won't end up being entirely normal."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"When people get shifted sideways, they tend to gain powers related to death and rebirth," said Dis, "The last person I needed to shift ended up with the Phoenix Force."

"Jean Grey?"

"Thats the one. Shame she ended up going nuts because of it."

I gulped.

"Soo, where am I going?"

"Pick a door," said Dis, indicating to a pair of identical doors that hadn't been there before.

"Where do they lead?" I asked.

"Your new home," said the Overseer, "Not even I know where they lead. Don't worry, though, I've already taken steps to make sure you don't get consumed by whatever power you gain. You'll start again with a clean slate, new memories and a new life."

I paused, my hand inches from one of the door handles.

"I won't remember my past?"

Dis shook his head.

"You will," he said, But those memories will be overtaken by new ones and suppressed. They'll be there, but they won't be important. Its how we prevent those we have to shift from getting homesick."

I swallowed and turned back to the door.

"Alright, you can do this," I muttered and opened the door.

* * *

3rd person POV, empty warehouse in Gotham

"Get that fire out before the whole place comes down!" shouted the fire chief as the Gotham Fire Service scrambled to to stop the blaze that was rapidly consuming the warehouse before it could spread.

Fortunately, it seemed that luck was on their side for once and the fire crews were able to get the blaze under control before the fire could spread to one of the warehouses full of unstable chemicals that could explode and likely create a new supervillain out of some unlucky sod who was standing too close.

With the blaze now out, the fire fighters moved in to ensure the fire was actually out and the see if they could find the source of the blaze in an apparently empty building. What they found instead was a corpse, charred beyond recognition and in the middle of what looked like a blast circle. It seemed like the corpse was the source of the fire, but no accelerants or bomb residue could be found anywhere and it didn't make any sense for someone to burn down an empty warehouse, even if someone wanted to get back at the owner. After all, while it could be a little expensive, a warehouse is fairly easy to replace.

* * *

However, the corpse was the only lead they had, so the Fire Chief had the body sent to the labs for testing, just in case. It was loaded into the coroner's van and he drove away, leaving the firefighters and police to clean up. However, not everything is as it seems and Dis hadn't been joking when he said that people sent sideways often gain powers related to rebirth and what is a better symbol of rebirth than the legendary phoenix?

The inside of the van began to heat up to the point that the body bag began to melt as the blackened and charred body began to shake, rattling the trolley it was on.

"What the hell," muttered the driver, stopping the van and getting out.

He moved around the van and opened the back, releasing a cloud of steam and revealing the body in a puddle of molten plastic.

"What the hell is going on?" muttered the coroner, climbing in for a closer look.

He reached out and touched the body, which proved to be a mistake as its eyes seemed to open, revealing twin pools of orange light.

"What the..!" gasped the coriner, trying to pull his hand away from the not-so-dead body, only to find that his fingers had frozen to it.

The ice quickly moved up his body, covering him completely before he could even scream, before it began to spread all throughout the inside of the van, starting from the charred body as glowing cracks began to appear and the blackened shell began to fall away, revealing pale skin. Finally, with a loud explosion and a sound like an eagle's cry, the shell shattered, releasing a huge wave of fire that erupted out the top of the van, forming into the shape of a bird and blasting away the clouds that covered the city nearly 24-7.

 **And thats the end of this idea. Let me know what you think and no comments about Dis. He's based on me, design wise and won't be appearing again.**

 **Now, as for Rich, the main character in this story, his powers are based on a variety of fire users throughout all sorts of stories. The ice comes from his ability to draw in heat for a power boost or to speed up his healing.**

 **And with that I'm done. Tell me what you think in a review!**


	2. Chapter 2

Rise of the Phoenix

Apparently dieing before your time causes trouble for more than just you, as I discovered after burning to death. Now I'm in everyone's favorite shithole, Gotham, trying to make my way as a freelance hero on the Dark Knights turf.

 **And we're back. I made a slight adjustment to chapter one, but its mostly the same. Other than that, I got nothing so lets dive straight in.**

Chapter 2

When I came to after passing through the doorway, it was to find myself in what felt like a moving vehicle of some kind, not that I really cared as it felt like my entire body was on fire, again. I tried to scream, only to find that I was completely unable to move, as if my body was covered in stone. I couldn't even open my eyes! I could already feel the stirrings of panic in my gut as I struggled desperately to move, along with something else. The second feeling felt warm as it spread through my veins, washing away the pain and stiffness, but also leaving me feeling drained and sluggish as it dissipated. I could feel my body pulling energy in from my surroundings in a thin trickle. Then, something touched my arm and it felt like a dam opened.

My eyes snapped open, revealing a world seen as if through an infrared camera, showing me the inside of a nearly empty van and a large blob of heat that was stood next to me. Instantly, my body and new powers surged out, latching onto the heat source and drawing it into me, almost faster than the eye could see, followed by the rest of the of the heat in the van, including the engine. After just a few seconds, the van appeared blue to my infrared vision and I felt fully charged. Re Energized and feeling better than ever before, I tried to move again, forcing my limbs to obey as I pushed my power through them. At first, whatever was covering me held. Then, with one final heave and a burst of power, I felt the bindings shatter in a huge explosion of energy. I felt my power revel at the new freedom, bursting out of me in a massive wave, shattering the frozen van and leaving me feeling drained...again.

"Christ, I hope this isn't going to be a regular thing," I muttered, my voice sounding rough to my ears as I collapsed onto the road.

I could already feel my new powers responding to my low energy levels as they began to take what heat they could from my surroundings. I sighed softly at the feeling of energy rushing back into me like a hot drink on a cold day. The roads surface beneath me felt oddly comfortable all things considered and at that moment, all I really wanted to do was drift off for a bit. Unfortunately, it seemed that my little fireworks display had attracted the fuzz as the sound of a car screeching to a stop reached my ears, followed by a shout to put my hands where they could seen them. Frankly though I honestly didn't care that much as it stood and just wanted to get some sleep, so I was content to just lay there and let them drag me off to the station. However, it seemed that my currently out of control powers had other ideas and, as soon as the two cops tried to cuff me and touched my skin, they reacted, draining both of them of their heat and leaving them little more than frozen sculptures in less time than it took to scream.

"Shit," I muttered as I felt the energy rush into me, "This is going to end badly."

I pushed myself to my feet, absently noting that the cops would be able to add indecent exposure to my file, and ran to the nearest alley to lose myself in the rabbit warren of alleyways, pausing only to swipe some clothes from a handy washing line.

* * *

Eventually I found myself in a rundown, abandoned building where I finally stopped to take stock. And figure out how to turn of this god damn inferred vision. As cool as it was, it was also really annoying to see everything in shades of red… my thoughts trailed of as the world abruptly changed back to normal. A thought brought the inferred vision back.

"Well, that was surprisingly easy," I muttered, "Now, lets see what else I can do."

I held out my hands and a small flame appeared between them. I flexed my will and watched as the flame leaped to obey like an eager puppy. I smiled as I manipulated the tiny flame, making it grow, shrink, change shape and even temperature with a mere thought. After about half an hour of just playing with my fire, my thoughts turned to my other ability, the power to steal heat from my surroundings. That could be rather dangerous if I couldn't gain control over it, as seen with those two cops I froze. I really hoped no one had been around to get a good look at me or my goose was cooked. But that worry was for later, right now I had to get my powers under control before I turned someone else into an icicle. I sank down into a lotus position and closed my eyes, focusing on the warmth I could feel in the center of my chest that seemed to be the source of my power.

Almost immediately, I felt the power leap to answer my call, eagerly uncoiling and spreading out through my body. I felt my mind open and I instinctively knew how to control my powers and prevent them from hurting anyone else. I could feel its grief and shame at having taken the lives of three men, but I also got the feeling that it would do it again if it meant saving my life. It was an extremely strange feeling, as if my power was alive and separate from me yet part of me at the same time. I knew I could control it perfectly and it would never resist or disobey me, but I also got the feeling that it could and would act on its own if needed. I could feel its desire to protect and nurture life and innocence, its disgust at the thought of killing and its determination to do whatever it took to protect the life it represented so well.

I opened my eyes and grabbed a chunk of what might have been a chair at some point, reaching out with my powers and draining what little heat was present in the block of wood, causing it to ice over.

Suddenly, something told me to duck and I did, just in time for something to shoot over my head and lodge in the floor in front of me. Said object was a vaguely bat shaped throwing knife with glowing blue edges. I slowly turned around and found myself looking at the caped and cowled form of Batman.

" _Well fuck."_

* * *

Earlier, Batman's POV

The Dark Knight frowned as he examined the two dead men and the large patch of ice in the middle of the road. It looked like they had been stricken by a severe frostbite, despite the fact it was summer and, even in the winter, it didnt get cold enough to cause frostbite. Besides, it would take a lot to kill a man from the affliction. He had no idea who could be capable of something like this and that meant that someone new was in town. He straightened and looked around, taking in the rest of the surrounding area, including the scorched patch of ground under the thin layer of ice that covered the road. Most men would have missed it, but he wasn't most men. He was the Batman and nothing escaped him.

He activated the infrared lenses in his cowl and immediately spotted a trail that lead away from the scene and into the maze of alleyways that made up this part of Gotham.

Batman narrowed his eyes as he followed the trail, noting the way it meandered through the alleys with little direction, occasionally doubling back on itself. It was blatantly obvious that the freezer, whoever it was, had no idea where he or she was going. It didn't take long to find him, what with the huge amount of heat he was apparently generating. Batman swung over to the building where this potential new threat was hiding and slipped inside, remaining in the shadows as he looked down on his target.

He was surprised at how young he looked, only 16 at the most, with shaggy, blond hair that covered his ears and framed his face, lightly tanned skin and blue eyes. Hardly the image of a murderous criminal, but Batman knew that looks could be deceiving. He watched as the boy played with a small flame for a few moments, before he snuffed it out and sank into a meditative pose. Batman frowned as he watched the teen meditate and saw that he was glowing slightly, the glow forming into a faint image of a fiery bird that wrapped its wings protectively around the teen.

Then, the bird sank back into his body and the teen opened his eyes and picked up a piece of rubbish of the floor, which froze at his touch. Batmans frown deepened at the sight of what was clearly the ability that killed the two officers. He reached into his belt and pulled out a batarang.

* * *

Back to Rich's POV

Welp, I was screwed. With Batman here my chance of escape with my still fledgling powers was nil. Plus, with Batman here, that meant that the world I now found myself in was Gotham which meant I was screwed anyway. Lets just hope that he didn't think I was a Rogue or I'd be in real trouble. Unfortunately, it seemed like he knew that I was responsible for icing the two cops and would probably jump to conclusions. Thats what usually happened in these situations, right? Hero meets new kid on block, misunderstanding occurs and the two have a punch up before something happens to reveal that the new guys a goody?

"Hey now, wait a minute," I said, backing up, "I didn't mean to hurt those two! I'm kinda new the the whole super power thing and I don't have control over them yet! Thats why I'm here!"

Batmans eyes narrowed and he hopped down from the rafters to land in front of me. I stumbled back a few steps as he did and tripped over a piece of rubbish on the floor.

"You seemed to be doing just fine earlier," he growled.

I winced. Not good.

"A-ah, well my fire powers are easy to control, but my head absorption is less so," I said, "Plus, I was drained, so I kinda reacted on instinct and drained their heat."

Batmans eyes narrowed further.

"So that's it, you drain heat to power your abilities," he muttered.

"I guess so," I said, rubbing the back of my head, "Like I said, I'm kinda new at this."

"That doesn't change the fact you've killed three people," growled Batman.

I felt my power flare angrily at that and felt no small amount of indignation myself. I knew that Bats had a strong sense of morals and justice and had a reputation for being a hard ass, but this seemed a little too far.

"You think I don't know that!?" I snapped, getting to my feet, "You think I don't know that my powers killed three people who did nothing but get too close to me?! I have no idea how my powers work! For all I know, I could kill someone by brushing past them in a hallway!"

I trialed off as what I said sank in.

"I-I killed them," I whispered as I felt the blood drain from my face, "Oh god…"

I swallowed down my rising bile, but that proved to be a fools errand as it quickly came back up and I vomited all over Batmans boots. Well, that wouldn't endear me to him I thought in the very distant part of my mind that wasn't busy panicking. My vision blurred as I waved, before blacking out.

* * *

Batmans POV

Batman looked down at the blond who had just passed out at his feet...after covering his boots in vomit. That wasn't a reaction he had expected from someone who had taken the lives of three men and it wasn't really one that could be faked. Plus, the way he had been playing with his powers earlier lend credence to the statement that his powers were still new to him. Batman sighed and bent down, lifting the young man into his arms. He needed more information, but he was willing to give the kid the benefit of the doubt for now.

"Pleasant evening sir?" asked Alfred as Batman pulled into the Batcave.

"You could say that," said Batman as he clambered out of the Batmobile and lifted the still unconscious teen out of the car.

"Oh my, whos this?" asked the Butler.

"Not sure, some new super," said Batman, "He killed three men by freezing them."

"Another new rogue?" asked Alfred.

"I don't think so. He seemed quite distressed when he found out he'd killed them. Apparently, he's quite new to his power."

"Is that so?" said Alfred, "If I may ask, why did you bring him back here?"

"A couple of reasons," said Batman as he removed his cowl to reveal a head of black hair and the face of Bruce Wayne, "But I can't help but feel that this kid is far from a crook. Besides, I'm interested to know where his powers came from."

He grabbed a syringe and took a sample of the kids blood. As soon as the first drop entered the syringe it was blatantly clear that the boy wasn't human since the life giving liquid was glowing orange, quickly melted through the glass and vanished in a small flash of flame.

"Interesting…" said Bruce, eyeing the melted glass with interest.

"So he uses fire then?" asked Alfred.

"Yes, he also seems to be some kind of heat vampire, taking power from sources of heat. Thats how he froze the men tonight."

"Interesting indeed."

A low groan drew the two mens attention back to the blond teen, prompting Alfred to retreat into the shadows and Batman to slip his mask back on.

"What happened?" groaned the teen, before grimacing at the aftertaste of vomit in his mouth, "Oh yeah, that."

* * *

Rich's POV

I looked around, before my gaze fell on Batman stood a short distance away, looking at me with his signature glare.

"Huh, I was expecting to wake up in a cell," I said, "Any particular reason as to why I didn't?"

"You don't really strike me as a killer," said Batman.

"I'm not," I said, "Like I said, it was an accident."

I swallowed, shoving down my vomit again.

"I believe you."

Batman narrowed his eyes.

"Even so, I do need to ask, where do your powers come from? I highly doubt they are natural."

I searched my mind for the answer. It felt like I should know it, like it was right there at the edge of my thoughts, but just out of reach. After a moment, I sighed.

"I have no idea," I said, "I feel like I do, deep down, but its...blocked? Thats the best way to describe it at least. Sorry."

"In that case, tell me your name," said Batman.

"Richard Fenix," I said with a grin, "But most people call me Rich."

Batman turned to his computer and started tapping away before, much to my surprise, a set of files baring my name and picture appeared. Then again, I suppose it wasn't that surprising. I mean, just dumping me into the world with no id or anything would cause no end of trouble.

"Richard Fenix, aged 16, an Emancipated orphan," said Batman.

"Thats me," I said, "So, can I go?"

Batman turned back to me and narrowed his eyes.

"Do you have your powers under control?"

I clenched my fist and called on my power, causing it to burst into flame, before putting the fire out and sighing.

"I think so," I said, "Enough that I won't...kill someone by accident."

I hesitated on the word kill as I felt my bile rise up again. That was not a pleasant feeling and I really hope I can get over it soon.

Batman eyed me for a moment, before nodding.

"Alright, but be careful," he said, "You seem like a good kid and I don't want to have to put you in prison."

"And I don't want to end up there," I said, getting to my feet, "Thanks for the help Bats."

I called on my power and fire surrounded me, forming into the shape of a bird, before vanishing.

* * *

I reappeared near the warehouse my arrival had burned down, staggering slightly as I did.

"Whoo boy, that felt weird," I muttered, before straightening up, "Right, lets have a look around."

Logic dictated that their would be something around here that would help me since this was my entry point and Dis had gone to the trouble of creating an identity for me in this world. It was highly unlikely that he'd do that and then leave me floundering. I took a step forwards, only for my foot to catch a rucksack I was sure hadn't been there a moment ago and sent me sprawling, my balance still a little shot from my teleportation.

"Bloody board angel things," I muttered as I sat up and grabbed the bag.

It was a regular black rucksack with a bright orange lining and zips and contained a wallet, a keyring and a note with an apartment number on it, as well as a smiling cat face with a thumbs up. I scowled, before zipping up the bag and slinging over my shoulder. I went to hop back to my feet, but instead found myself shooting up high enough to land on the roof.

"Whoa," I muttered, looking down at my hands, "That'll come in handy."

I glanced around, before running to the edge of the roof and jumping, sending my flying across the gap to land on the roof adjacent.

"Hehe, cool."

I took off over the rooftops of Gotham.

* * *

It took surprisingly little time for me to find the building and I dropped down into alleyway next to it.

"Nice place," I said as I stepped out of the alley and looked up at the building.

It was in the nicer part of town (Thank god), but was otherwise unremarkable. I entered the lobby and made my way upstairs to the fourth floor where my apartment was apparently located.

"Lets see, fourth floor, apartment 2," I said, stopping outside the door and letting myself in.

It was a fairly nice apartment, consisting of a small kitchenette, a living room with a tv and media center with a number of consoles and games stacked up next to it, a settee and coffee table with an empty teacup and a sealed enverlope. A door off the short corridor that lead to the living room lead into the bathroom and another door off the living room lead into the bedroom, which was an exact copy of my old bedroom back home, right down to the PC set up under the window and bookshelf stuffed with various Anime, Manga, books, figures and all sorts of other bits and bobs. All in all, it was a comfortable place I could easily get used to.

I dropped my rucksack on the settee and flopped down next to it, picking up the envelope, which was addressed to me.

 _Dear Rich,_

 _I hope you like the place cus its the best you're getting. Now, before I leave you to make your own way in the world, their are a few things you should know. As you've probably guessed, I took the liberty of creating you an identity in this world so you're not just floundering. All the details are in the file on your bedside table, so make sure you read up on it._

 _There aren't really any limitations on what you can do with yourself now you're there, with only two exceptions. One, you cannot tell anyone you're from another world and two, you can't tell anyone what you know about the future. Both are sealed away behind barriers to keep you from accidentally telling or a telepath from pulling the information from your mind._

 _You have been enrolled at Gotham High, which you will be starting on Monday, so make sure you go. You are only 16 after all and you need to attend school and get a degree. The money we provided will not last forever and, after this, you're on your own._

 _Finally, since I have no doubt you'll end up using those powers of yours for something, I have provided a little something to help you. Its in your cupboard._

 _I think thats everything, have a good life!_

 _From,_

 _Dis._

"Well, thats interesting," I muttered, tossing the letter down on the coffee table, "Still, at least I don't need to worry about living or money. For a while at least."

I got to my feet and headed into my room, opening my cupboard to see what Dis had been talking about. Inside was all the clothes my cupboard had held back home in addition to a new outfit held in one of those laundrette bags. I pulled it out and lay it on the bed, before unzipping it to reveal my new gear.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me," I muttered as I stared down at the clothes.

The outfit consisted of a black shirt with a facemask attached, a black coat with a white lining and four tails, a pair of gloves with metal plates on the back, black trousers and black boots. The whole set was made of a material I didn't recognize, but it was likely some kind of super advanced fabric designed to withstand everything you can think of.

"Right, I know I'm basically a firebird, but did Dis have to give me Homura's outfit?" I groaned, "Aw well, so long as I don't turn into a girl later."

I smirked, before grabbing the outfit and changing into it, marveling at how comfortable and easy to move in it was.

"Well, since I'm here and have it, lets go spend the night checking out the town," I said, pulling up the mask and opening the window.

 **And thats the end of this chapter! I hope you liked it. Before I sign off, a few things.**

 **First up, Batmans reaction to Rich. I know he was probably a little lenient, but you can blame Dis for that. It wouldn't be very good if Rich wound up in the slammer before he even has chance to live in this new world, so he tweaked Bat's reaction a little. Plus, The 2004 Batman is a little more reasonable than some of his incarnations.**

 **Rich's flat number wasn't chosen at random. Kudos to anyone who gets why I chose those particular numbers.**

 **Rich's super hero gear is basically Homuras outfit from Sekirei because it looks really cool and I can't be arsed to design one of my own.**

 **The time line is shortly before the start of the Cartoon, so none of Batmans rogues have actually shown up yet. I don't intend for Rich to get involved in every single episode because I'm too lazy for that.**

 **Anyway, time to sign off, leave a review!**


	3. Chapter 3

Rise of the Phoenix

Apparently dieing before your time causes trouble for more than just you, as I discovered after burning to death. Now I'm in everyone's favorite shithole, Gotham, trying to make my way as a freelance hero on the Dark Knights turf.

 **And we're back. Nothing really to add really so lets dive straight in.**

Chapter 3

"This is fun!" I said as I bounded across the rooftops of Gotham.

I have no idea exactly how my fire powers translated into enhanced physical powers, but I certainly wasn't about to complain if it meant I got to experience a rush like this! I made my way up the side of one of the taller buildings, alighting on a gargoyle near the top and looking out over the city.

"Man, I could get used to this," I said, "Now, lets see how these do."

I grinned as a pair of fiery wings emerged from my back.

"Ohhh, I really hope these things work," I said, "Otherwise I won't be able to live up to my name."

I flapped my wings and took off, swooping through the nights sky with a whoop.

"Oh hells yeah!" I shouted as I shot between the buildings, "Now lets see how fast I can go."

I folded my wings and sped up, quickly turning into a comet flying through the city, leaving behind a crimson trail of flames.

"YEEEHHAAAA!"

I shot down to street level and wove my way between the cars in a test of agility.

"Ohoh, this is fun!" I crowed as I shot into a tunnel and out the other side, before coming to a stop, floating above the city on wings of fire, "Hehehe, oh man, I love these new powers!"

I turned, intending to head home, but before I could, a scream reached my ears.

"Well, this is Gotham," I muttered, before heading in the direction of the scream.

* * *

It didn't take me long to locate the source of the scream in a nearby alleyway where a group of big guys in a ski masks was threatening a teenaged girl with red hair with knives. I narrowed my eyes as I landed on the roof above them.

"Hey!"

The muggers jumped and looked around wildly as I hopped down behind him.

"Four men against one unarmed girl?" I said as I stepped out of the shadows, "Doesn't that make you the laughing stock of the yearly assholes anonymous meeting?"

"Who the hell are you?" asked one of the thugs.

"You can call me Phoenix," I said, summoning a fireball to my hand, "Now beat it before I turn you into my Pyre."

"Neat trick," said the thug, "But I have a better idea. Get him!"

The thugs left the girls and charged me, clearly not viewing me as much of a threat. Big mistake. I ducked under the first thugs wild swing and planted a solid kick to his stomach, sending him flying back into a dumpster with a nasty crunch.

"Huh, maybe I ought to pull my punches," I mused as I hopped out of the way of another punch without looking, "Nah."

I slammed my elbow into the second thugs chin, sending his head snapping back, before flipping over the third with the help of a gout of fire from my feet and grabbing him in a lock and knocking him out with a quick tightening of my grip around his windpipe.

"And then their was one," I said, turning to the last thug.

"Hold it, or the girl gets it," growled the last thug, grabbing the red-head and holding her at knife point.

"That really isn't a good idea buddy," I said, narrowing my eyes at the thug.

"And why not?" he growled.

"Because I've been holding back."

I glared at the thugs knife and the blade immediately started glowing red.

"GAH!" he dropped the weapon with a yelp, holding his burnt fingers, right before a fireball slammed into his face, knocking him back into the wall with a nasty crunch.

"Heh, idiot, didn't even notice I wasn't using my fire," I smirked, before turning to help up the girl, "Are you OK?"

"I think so," said the girl as I helped her up, "Thanks."

"No problem," I said with a grin under my mask.

Then she looked at me and I had to suppress the urge to facepalm. She was a pretty girl with green eyes behind a pair of square rimmed glasses. Apparently I'd just saved the future Poison Ivy. Isn't the world a funny place. I suppressed a sigh, before turning to leave.

"Wait!"

I glanced back at Pamala.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"Weren't you listening?" I quipped with a smile under my mask, "I'm the Phoenix."

My flames surrounded me and I shot into the sky.

* * *

The next morning, I was woken up by my doorbell going off. I let out a groan as I dragged myself from the depths of sleep, throwing on my dressing gown as I stumped down the hall to the door.

"I'ma coming!" I called through a yawn.

I opened the door without taking it of the chain and peaked out at my visitor, only to immediately want to go back to bed when I saw who it was.

"Hey, you must be the new neighbour, I'm Barbara Gordon," said the redhead I'd saved last night, "Me and my dad live next door."

"Nice to meet you," I said, stifling a yawn, "Scuse me, I had a late night last night. Names Richard Fenix, but you can call me Rich."

I shut the door, before taking the chain of and opening it fully.

"Come on in, better than talking out in the hall."

The future Batgirl followed me into my flat, looking around in interest as I ducked into my room to get changed into something more presentable, throwing on a white shirt and pair of black jeans, going barefoot.

"Are your parents around?" asked Barbara as I stepped out of my room.

"Nope, their wormfood," I said, "Tea?"

Barbara gave a startled gasp and I suppressed the urge to bang my head on the wall. That was way to blunt to be talking about deceased parents. Backpedal time!

"Ah, don't worry about it," I said before she could apologize, "They died when I was just a little kid, I don't really remember them."

Accurate as far as the information provided by Dis was concerned.

"I-I see," stuttered Barbara, "So who are you living with?"

"I'm an emancipated orphan," I said, "Up until last year I lived with my grandfather, but he died. I got a social worker checking on me to make sure I'm OK, but I'm mostly left to my own devices."

Barbara was quite for a moment, before she shook herself and smiled at me.

"That sounds like fun," she said, "Not having to put up with parental figures."

I gave a shrug and a smirk.

"I am expected to be somewhat responsible, but I don't mind," I said, "I'm not the type to throw wild parties anyway."

"Probably a good idea," said Barbara with a grin, "My dads a cop."

* * *

The conversation turned to random topic ranging from gymnastics to the environment to the Batman. Barbara proved to be every bit as bubbly and excitable as I expected and I was really glad I ended up living next door to her as it meant I'd already have a rapport with her for when she became Batgirl, something I had every intention of helping her with once she did so.

"So, are you going to Gotham High?" she asked eventually.

"Yup, I start tomorrow," I said, "I only moved here a couple of days ago and there was paperwork to do."

"Great, I hope we're in the same class," said Barbara with a grin.

"Me to, it'll be nice to have a friend right from the get go," I smirked, before leaning forwards and grabbing the Xbox controllers of the table, "Hey, you wanna play?"

Barbara grinned and took the controller.

After a day of playing video games, Barbara bid me goodbye and headed home so she could make dinner for her and her father, but not before inviting me over later in the week and telling me to wait around on monday so we could go to school together. Once alone, I flopped down on the sofa with a sigh. I wonder if this is all Dis's doing or if it was pure coincidence that I saved Pamela Isley and lived next door to Barbara Gordon? Hmm…

Aw well, doesn't matter. I flipped to my feet and headed into my room, grabbing my uniform from where I'd hidden it at the back of my cupboard and heading out into the night. While I didn't really have a reason for doing this like Batman did, with great power comes great responsibility and all that. Besides, flying through the city was fun, as was punching morons in the face. The biggest draw to the life of a Cape for me though was the opportunity to help people. While it was under my command, my powers were still alive to a degree and sitting by while an innocent was harmed was anathema to them. Fortunately, it was also anathema to me, so I had no problem taking to the streets to deal with street level crime.

* * *

I was sat atop one of the skyscrapers in the city after mopping up a few idiots, enjoying the view through my thermal vision, which looked really cool, when I spotted something extremely hot moving through the city at high speed. I deactivated my thermal vision and spread my wings, taking off after the heat signatures. It didn't take long to catch up as the Phoenix flies and I found the source to be the Batmobile chasing a black van.

"Hmm, I probably should keep my nose out, but then again this might be as good a way as any to introduce myself properly," I said, before nodding to myself and speeding up to get ahead of the two cars.

I swooped down and landed on the road.

"Right, lets stop that van," I said.

I closed my eyes and focused, drawing the heat from the road and into my body, causing the tarmac to freeze over, creating a layer of black ice. The van hit the ice and immediately spun out of control, going flying through the front of a nearby building and catching fire. I stepped up to the building and quickly absorbed the flames before they could spread, before checking on the driver, who was unconscious.

"Who are you?"

I turned and saw Batman stood behind me.

"Hey Bats, nice to see you again," I said.

Batman narrowed his eyes behind his cowl.

"Do I know you?"

My eye twitched. OK, so I was in the world where a pair of glasses fooled everyone, but this was Batman I was talking to, surely he could figure it out! Still, if he couldn't, I wasn't going to point it out to him.

"I'm Phoenix," I said, "I'm new to the gig and I thought I'd introduce myself."

"By crashing a car?" asked Batman.

"By stopping a criminal," I said, "And before you try some line about this being your turfe, Gotham is way to large for one hero."

Batman raised an eyebrow behind his cowl.

"Is that so? Fine, I suspect I wouldn't be able to stop you anyway and I certainly won't turn down more help in keeping Gotham safe."

I nodded and took a step back.

"Well, this guys all yours. See ya!"

I took of, leaving Bats to bag the crook.

* * *

" _In other news, the mysterious new crimefighter known as Phoenix struck again last night, allowing Police to take down more than a few well known gangsters who have been terrorizing Downtown Gotham."_

I turned the TV off as I dropped my bowl into the sink to be washed.

"Bloody hell, that didn't take long," I muttered, "Then again, I haven't exactly been hiding and flying with fire makes it difficult to hide. Eh, who cares."

I grabbed my bag and opened the front door, right as Barbara was about to knock.

"Yo, mornin," I said with a grin.

"Hey Rich," said Barbara, "This is my dad."

She indicated to the mustachioed cop stood beside her.

"Detective James Gordon, its nice to meet you," said the future Commissioner, "Let me know if you need anything."

"Likewise sir, and I will," I said.

We headed out and piled into Gordons car where I spent the drive answering questions from the cop and chatting with Barbara. We arrived at the school and I clambered out as Barbara bid her father goodbye.

"Come on, I'll show you to the main office," said Barbara, leading the way into the school.

I followed her through the halls to the office, where she left me to go to class. Fortunately, it didn't take long to get the paperwork done and the headmaster led me through the halls to a classroom and knocked on the door.

"Pardon me, but I have your new student," said the Headmaster, "Come in Mr Fenix."

I stepped into the classroom and immediately spotted Barbara sat at the back by the window. The teacher, a serious looking man with thinning hair and glasses, beckoned me to the front.

"Introduce yourself," he said.

"I'm Richard Fenix, recent transfer from Britain, its nice to meet you all," I said with a grin.

"Alright, take a seat over there," said the teacher, pointing at an empty desk in front of Barbara.

That would put me one row from the back, right next to the window, the same place most Anime protagonists found themselves for some odd reason. I grinned at Barbara and dropped into my seat as the lesson started.

* * *

An hour later I was about ready to fall asleep from boredom as I already knew everything we were covering and was just debating the merits of jumping out the window, just for something to do, when the bell rang and everyone began to file out of the room.

"Hey Rich, you wanna join us for lunch?" asked Barbara.

"Sure," I said, getting to my feet and slinging my bag over my shoulder.

I followed Barbara through the halls, outside and over to a tree where an older and very familer red-head was sat.

"Hey Red," said Barbara as we approached.

"Hey Other Red," said Pamela, before looking at me curiously, "Whos the new kid?"

"Pam, this is Richard Fenix, Rich, this is Pamela Isley."

"Nice to meet you," I said.

"You look familiar," said Pam as she shook my hand, "Have we met somewhere before?"

My smile became fixed.

"I don't think so," I said.

"Huh, must be my imagination," said Pam.

Barbara and I joined Pam on the grass and pulled out our lunches.

"Hey, you know that new hero in town?" asked Pam.

I stiffened as Barbara spoke up.

"You mean Phoenix?" asked Barbara, "Isn't he an Urban Legend like Batman?"

Pam shook her head.

"No, I know hes real," she said, "Saturday Night, I was out late and these thugs jumped me. Anyway, before they could do anything, this guy in a black coat came out of nowhere and beat them to a pulp."

"Are you sure it wasn't just someone helping you?" asked Barbara, still looking skeptical.

"Not a chance, unless you know someone who can throw fireballs and fly?"

Now Barbara was interested.

"What did he look like?"

"Well, he didn't look very old, but it was hard to tell cus he wore a mask," started the red-headed environmentalist, "But he had messy, blond hair and blue eyes. His costume was all black and he was incredibly fast, strong to if the way he was tossing those thugs around is anything to go by."

She gave a dreamy sigh that put me on edge. Barbara apparently also caught it and asked what I was worried about.

"Do you have a crush on him?"

Pams flinch was all I needed. God damn it, thats all I needed! A future super villain as a fangirl!

"N-no, what gave you that idea?" stuttered Pam, going red.

I groaned.

"Something wrong Rich?" asked Barbara.

"No, nothing, just wondering," I said, "I get the feeling that things are going to become very complicated."

 **And thats the end of this chapter before it gets away from me. So, Phoenix has taken to the streets and has already made a name for himself, as well as got a fangirl. Yeah, I'm going to be playing around with that in the future.**

 **He lives next door to Batgirl. Coincidence? Of course not, I'm the writer! Speaking of, Gordon doesn't become the commissioner until later in the series, so hes currently a detective.**

 **Batman not recognizing Rich is down to the fact that a pair of glasses can fool someone in this world. No other comment their. And who do we think was driving the van Rich stopped? It wasn't a random high speed chase, I'll say that much.**

 **Now, I'm signing off so leave me a review!**


	4. Chapter 4

Rise of the Phoenix

Apparently dieing before your time causes trouble for more than just you, as I discovered after burning to death. Now I'm in everyone's favorite shithole, Gotham, trying to make my way as a freelance hero on the Dark Knights turf.

 **And we're back for more. This chapter we're getting up to the point where the cartoon actually starts a couple of months later. Before we start, a quick question. Should I give Rich a few rogues of his own? They won't be on the level of Joker or Batmans rogues gallery, more like low level gangsters and maybe a few metahumans. Let me know what you think of the idea. Until then, enjoy!**

Chapter 4

"Man, I'm bored!" I groaned as I kicked my heels up on my coffee table and gazed mournfully out at the pouring rain, "God damn rain, I can't go out in this!"

It had been a month since I had ended up in this new world and I had discovered a lot about my powers in that time, the main one being that, while water didn't hurt me, it made using my powers far more draining than usual and that's saying something. Creating fire was a real energy hog and it was only by absorbing the heat from around me that I could keep my powers running for any length of time. All of my powers, my enhanced physiology included, relied on that energy supply and without it, I was an ordinary human. Being out in the rain didn't help as, although my fire could withstand water, it still took more energy to actually generate the fire in the first place. Plus, I had gained a severe dislike for water to go with my new fiery disposition.

"Awe well, guess I'll go bang my head against the wall," I muttered, turning on my PS4 for a round of getting my arse kicked on Bloodborne, "But first, a cuppa."

Hey, I may be living in Gotham, but I'm still a Brit! I headed into the kitchen and opened the fridge to grab the milk, only to find that I'd run out.

"Bugger."

Lets see, it was pouring with rain outside and I really didn't want to face that, but on the other hand, I had no milk which meant no tea and playing any Souls game with no tea was a recipe for hair pulling disaster. Hmm, decisions decisions…

"Awe to hell with it!" I groaned, grabbing my coat and heading out the door.

* * *

Fortunately, the shop wasn't far, unfortunately, the driving rain made sure that I was absolutely soaked and in a foul mood once I arrived.

"Wow, you look like a drowned rat," said the pimply teen behind the counter as I payed for the milk.

I just growled and grabbed my change. I headed for the door and sighed as I stared out at the rain, seriously regretting my choice when I could have just had something else. Still, no point in bemoaning my choices now. I left the shop and started heading back home. As I approached my building, I passed an alleyway and the sound of someone crying reached my ears. I paused and glanced into the alley, activating my Thermal Vision, scanning the alley. Almost immediately, I spotted a blob of heat huddling behind a dumpster. Curious, I stepped into the alley and up to the dumpster to take a look. As I did, my foot hit a can, sending it clattering down the alley. Their was a startled gasp and the blob of heat scrabbled back deeper in the alley. I stifled a curse and deactivated my thermal vision, knowing that it made my eyes glow red which wouldn't look at all comforting in the dark.

After a moment to allow my eyes to adjust to the relative darkness of the alley, I saw the source of the crying. Huddled in the darkness was an eleven year old girl with blond hair pulled back into a ponytail and narrow, dark grey eyes that were currently filled with tears and one was swollen shut. She was wearing a white shirt and dungarees and was barefoot. She was shivering and looking up at me with fear clear in her eyes.

I sighed and crouched down so I was level with her, before tapping into another power I'd learnt about in the time since I had arrived. One of the things that Phoenixes were famous for is their ability to sing songs that bring strength to those with a good heart and pain to those who are evil. I was beginning to suspect that my powers went far deeper than simply being able to use fire and heat since I had also discovered that my tears had healing powers. I effectively was a human Phoenix, although I had no idea if I was immortal yet and wouldn't be experimenting with it any time soon.

But I digress.

"Hey kid, are you OK?" I asked, my voice taking on a musical quality it didn't normally have.

The girl immediately relaxed at the sound of my voice and slowly looked up at me.

"Need a hand?"

The girl hesitantly reached out and took my offered hand.

"Christ you're freezing," I said as I felt how cold her fingers were, "Come on, lets get you warmed up."

I lead her inside and up to my apartment, sitting her down on my settee and handing her a cup of hot tea.

"My names Richard by way," I said as I took a seat in the armchair opposite her with my first aid kit, "And you are?"

"Artemis Crock," said the girl.

I stifled a sigh. Of course, what a surprise.

"So why exactly are were you out in the pouring rain, barefoot and looking like you've just gone ten rounds in the ring?" I asked.

Artemis flinched slightly as she took the ice pack I handed her and pressed it to her swollen eye.

"M-my dad, hes pretty serious when t-training us," she said, "My sister and me."

"I see," I muttered, pulling out a roll of bandages and a bottle of antiseptic, "Here, let me treat those injuries."

"A-ah, theres no need…" she protested.

I ignored her and gently took her hand, using a cotton ball to start cleaning her injuries, covering them with bandages before she could notice the injuries healing from my tears I'd mixed in with the antiseptic.

"Why are you helping me?" asked Artemis, wincing slightly as the antiseptic burnt her cuts.

"Because its the right thing to do," I said, "You should never need a reason to help someone if you can."

Artemis was silent for a moment, before she nodded and stood.

"Thank you Richard," said Artemis, "I should go."

"My friends call me Rich," I said, "And keep safe."

Artemis nodded and left. I sighed and packed up the first aid box. It was hard to believe just how many people of interest I'd met in the past few weeks, living next to Batgirl, going to school with Poison Ivy, and now meeting the girl who would one day become Artemis, the Archer of Young Justice. Still, could be worse. I flipped on the TV to the news.

"This just in, an attack at Arkham Asylum has resulted in many of the inhabitants being released and the bridge to the island destroyed. Police say that most of the patents have been rounded up, but a few are still unaccounted for and the public is advised to keep an eye out."

It just got worse.

* * *

The next evening, I was in uniform and flying through the city, keeping my eyes peeled for thugs and/or balloons filled with Joker gas. It didn't take long to find it, what with it being big, colourful and the loud cackling of the Clown Prince of Crime. I landed on the roof of a building and watched as Batman and the Joker traded punches. I want entirely sure if I should get involved since it was this event that basically triggered the entire rivalry between the Bat and the Clown and I really didn't want to attract Jokers attention thank you very much.

"Guess I'll wait it out for now," I muttered.

I settled in to watch, intending to step in if anything went horribly wrong, not that I was expecting it to.

"So, thou art the Phoenix," said a voice, nearly making me jump out of my skin.

I spun around to see a rather attractive woman with long, blond hair, and a full figure. Her eyes were hidden under a domino mask and she was wearing a long, black coat over a white dress with a short skirt, a black and white choker around her neck and long brown boots with black stockings. She was stood on top of a nearby water tower with her arms crossed under her prodigious bust. The fact she was stood above me also meant I could see up her skirt.

"You have me at a disadvantage," I said, "You know me, but I have no idea who you are, Miss Panty flasher."

The blond went red and scowled.

"Thou pervert!" she snapped.

"You're the one in a short skirt," I said, "Now who are you?"

The woman sniffed and hopped down from the water tower so I could no longer see her undies.

"I am Tsukiumi," she said.

"That a code name or your real one?" I asked, "Never mind, none of my business"

"Correct," said Tsukiumi.

"I haven't heard of you before," I said, "Don't get out much?"

"Thou could say that," she said, "I prefer to keep a low profile. Unlike thee."

"Fire isn't exactly conducive to subtly," I said.

We fell silent as we watched the Jokers balloon get further away.

"Aren't thou going to help?" asked Hippocampus at length.

"I don't think Batman needs it," I said, "I'm just here to make sure no one gets hurt."

I eyed the blond through the corner of my eye.

"So, if you prefer to keep out of sight, why are you here now?" I asked.

"Elementals are rather uncommon," said Tsukiumi, "I was curious to meet you."

"Fair enough."

I turned back to the floating balloon which had just been dragged into the water. I sighed and got to my feet.

"Alright, looks like Bats is done," I said, "I'm outta here."

I started walking towards the edge of the roof, pausing when I got to the edge.

"Before I go, whose side are you on?" I asked.

"I am on no ones side," said Tsukiumi, "I help where I can, but I have no intention of doing what you do."

I nodded and jumped off the building.

* * *

After the Joker incident, things calmed down a lot. I still spent most evenings patrolling the city, taking out criminals and leaving piles of burnt and beaten thugs in my wake. I ran into Tsukiumi a few more times and we became sort of friends, although our relationship mostly consisted of sniping at each other and occasionally working together to pound larger gangs into the dirt, although we didn't do that often because fire and water don't mix to well in combat. School was pretty much normal. It wasn't exactly an endless party, but at least it wasn't a bottomless pit of despair. Maybe the fact I spent my days hanging around with two hot red-heads helped. Yes, I was becoming really good friends with both Batgirl and Poison Ivy. That should make for an interesting future.

Speaking of future Capes, I ended up helping out Artemis twice more after finding her looking beat up on the streets and after the third time, she showed up at my door herself and ended up showing up at least once a week. Gordon was curious and a little worried, but I managed to dissuade him from looking to deep, mainly because I didn't really want him going after someone like Sportsmaster. Well, that and Artemis begged me not to tell the cops about her family's 'ahem' business. I wasn't to happy about it, but I let it go. I'd probably get a chance to kick Sportsmasters ass later on down the line.

* * *

Two months after the Joker incident, I was sitting on top of a building after taking out yet another mugger, looking out over the city.

"Ahha, there you are!"

I tilted my head and looked over my shoulder to the source of the voice to see two girls in what looked like S&M gear stood at the edge of the roof, both with long, black hair styled in twin ponytails, hazel eyes and killer figures. The only difference I could see between the twins was one had a smaller bust.

"Who the hell are you two?" I asked, "More enforces?"

"You've been pissen of a lot of important people asshole!" shouted one of the girls, pointing at me, "We're gonna show you that you can't get away with that shit!"

I sighed and got to my feet, flames appearing next to me.

"You sure about this?" I asked, "You do know that picking a fight with me is liable to get you burned."

The two girls smirked and held out there hands. Purple lightning sparked off their fingers.

"Oh we're not worried," said the other girl, "I think we can take you."

I blinked, before smirking.

"In that case, come get some," I said, holding up my hands, channeling more energy into my flames, "But first, how about you tell me the names of my opponents?"

"We're the Lightning Twins, Hikari," said the twin with the larger bust in the dark purple leather.

"And Hibiki," said the other, who was wearing lighter purple leather, "And we're the ones who are gonna kick your ass!"

They clasped their hands together and unleashed a massive bolt of lightning at me. I waved a hand and summoned a wall of fire that blocked the lightning bolt, creating a massive explosion.

"Heh, this might be fun," I said as I summoned multiple fireballs into existence and sent them flying at the Lightning twins.

The two girls leaped out of the way of the attack, retaliating with bolts of lightning. I met them with arrows of fire, dancing out of the way of the bolts I missed as they dodged out of the way of my flames.

"You're pretty good," said Hibikii.

"But you'll have to do a lot better than that if you want to beat us!" shouted Hikari.

"Oh really?" I said, "In that case, lets turn up the heat!"

The roof under me froze over as the flames orbiting me turned blue and started to increase in temperature to the point that the ice and roof beneath me started to melt. The Lightning Twins went white.

"Uh oh, I think me might have made a mistake," said Hikari.

"That you did," I said with a grin as my wings extended, now shot through with blue flames, "I've never used this before so I suggest you don't let it hit you."

The Lightning Twins huddled together as I gave a demonic grin and held out my arms.

"Azure Arrows!"

The blue fire around me spun and shot out, converging on the two girls and exploded, melting a massive hole in the roof and blasting the two girls across the roof where they landed in a heap. They were both badly burnt from the attack, but still alive.

"W-what?" groaned Hibiki, "W-why not finish us?"

"Because you two don't strike me as bad girls," I said, adjusting my gloves.

The two girls glanced at each other.

"Thats it?" asked Hikari.

"Well, I could tie you both up and leave you for the Cops if you want," I said.

Ah, no, we're good," said the girls, shaking there heads rapidly.

"In that case, I'll see ya around," I said, summoning my fire to teleport away.

* * *

I reappeared in a carpark a few miles away and immediately fell to my knees, gasping for breath. Creating fire that hot and powerful required a huge amount of energy. True the ability was mostly self sustaining once I got it going due to the amount of heat generated, but getting it started was exhausting. That was the real reason I'd only ever used it when I was experimenting with my powers.

"So, you are the Fénix Nino," said an accented voice.

I jumped and spun around to see a tall man in a black bodysuit with tubing over his body. I gulped as I recognized him and took a step back, quickly absorbing as much energy from my surroundings as I could in preparation for the inevitable fight.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I am Bane," said Bane, "And there are a lot of people willing to pay good money to remove you and the Bat."

"Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked, "I mean, I'm not exactly weak."

"Very true, however, I have a job to do," said Bane, grabbing his Venom Injector, "And I think that you will be much easier to break than Batman, even with your powers."

He activated the device, which began to pump the yellow Venom through his system, causing him to bulk up grotesquely and turn red. I opened my wings, intending to get the hell out of there and deal with him later with a full tank, but Bane moved with incredible speed and grabbed my leg before I could get away.

"Ah ah ah, no running now Nino," said Bane, "First I have to break you."

He swung me around my the leg and threw me across the carpark to slam into a rusted wreck that looked like it had been abandoned. I let out a gasp of pain and coughed up a small amount of blood as I felt my ribs and leg break. I could feel my regeneration factor kick in to fix the damage, but my currently low power reserves meant that that was perhaps the worst thing that could happen. I needed that power to escape or defend myself and there wasn't enough heat around to absorb to replenish my reserves. Damn it, my own powers were gonna get me killed! I struggled to get up as Bane walked towards me, cracking his knuckles as he came. I tried to lift my none broken arm to fire a fireball at Bane in an attempt to get him to back off, but before I could, Bane's foot slammed down on my arm, snapping it in two. I let out a scream as Bane grabbed me and pulled me up so I was eye to eye with him.

"I expected more," said the hulking Mercenary, "You and the Bat are such disappointments."

I let out a groan as I tried desperately to lift my other arm, only for Bane to grab it and break that to.

"Pathetic," sneered Bane, "But even so, breaking both you and the Bat will make me famous!"

He threw me away hard enough for me to slam into the wall of the carpark. Unfortunately for me, there happened to be a length of rebar sticking out of the wall where I hit that passed straight through my chest. My eyes and mouth opened wide in shock and pain before everything went black.

 **And thats the end of this chapter. So sorry for the long wait, but writers block is a bitch. The main problem I was having wass every time I started writing, the story started to go in directions that seemed silly. Eventually though, I decided to just let it flow, hence the new Sekirei in town. Please note, they are not Sekirei, just Metahumans.**

 **So, Rich has met Artemis and has become friends with her. I wonder how this will change the future?**

 **Rich didn't get involved in the fight with the Joker because he really didn't want to risk the Clown Prince of Crime focusing his madness on him instead of Bats. Can you honestly blame him?**

 **Interesting fight with the Lightning Twins. They and Tsukiumi will be back later.**

 **Apparently he's pissed off a lot of people enough for them to send Bane after him. Since Bane was able to take out Batman with no problem, I doubt he'd have any problem with Rich, especially while weakened from expanding way to much power on the Lightning Twins. Thats why you dont show off in battle people!**

 **It seems Rich will be finding out just how much he lives up to his name pretty soon. I wonder whats gonna happen now? Will he be able to recover? Or will this be a really short story? Find out next time! Until then, leave a review!**


	5. Chapter 5

Rise of the Phoenix

Apparently dieing before your time causes trouble for more than just you, as I discovered after burning to death. Now I'm in everyone's favorite shithole, Gotham, trying to make my way as a freelance hero on the Dark Knights turf.

 **And we're back for more. This chapter is mostly from a third person perspective since Rich is currently a stiff. Enjoy!**

Chapter 5

When the Batwave alerted Batman to a disturbance in a carpark in one of the less reputable residential district of Gotham, he had been expecting to find a fight between gangs or something similar, however what he found instead was an empty stretch of tarmac with a number of holes that looked suspiciously like they had been caused by massive fists, a completely crushed wreck and, worst of all, the bloody body of the young Hero who he had been keeping an eye on since his first appearance in that abandoned house.

Yes, Batman was well aware of the Phoenix's true identity, he wasn't that much of an idiot. He'd slipped a tracker into the kids clothes before he left the Batcave and had been keeping an eye on him ever since. The young man had impressed Batman over the time he'd been active in the number of petty criminals he had taken down, freeing up more time for Batman to go after the bigger fish. Of course, that didn't change the fact that he was still just a kid.

Batman gently removed the body from its place on the wall and lay it out, closing his eyes as he did.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, "I never should have let you get involved in this life."

Batman closed his eyes as if in prayer, before he winced as something burnt his fingertips. He pulled back his hand and looked at his glove, only to see that his glove was covered in ice.

"What..?"

Batman looked down and saw that ice was slowly starting to form around Phoenix's body. Startled, Batman activated his thermal vision to see that the heat around the body was rapidly being drawn in.

"What the hell?" muttered Batman, "That should be impossible. His heart's stopped so his powers should be…"

The Batmans eyes widened as he remembered what had happened every time the Phoenix had been hurt in the past.

"Regeneration. But is it possible for him to heal on this level? His powers are still working so… Yes, its worth a try. But how can I help?"

He glanced down at the spreading ice.

"His powers require energy drawn from heat to work, so the more heat, the better."

He glanced up as the sound of sirens reached his ears.

"Worth a try," he muttered, summoning his car and picking up Phoenix body, "Alright kid, lets see how much you live up to your name."

He placed the body on the passenger seat and hopped in, squealing away from the scene, right before the cops arrived.

"Alfred, do we still have that old furnace?" asked Batman over the radio.

"I believe so," said the butler, "Why?"

"Get it to the cave and fire it up," said Batman, "We have a Phoenix pyre to build."

"Pardon?"

"You'll see."

* * *

It didn't take much longer for Batman to reach the Cave thanks to the many entrances around the city. He pulled into the Batmobiles parking space and hopped out, grabbing Phoenix off his now ice covered seat and heading up to where Alfred was waiting with a burning furnace.

"Oh my, is that..?" asked Alfred, looking shocked at the sight of the bloodied body.

"Yes," said Batman, laying Phoenix out on one of the tables, "He's taken a beating and I'm pretty sure hes dead."

"Then why..?"

"Because his powers are still active," said Batman, shaking the ice off his gloves, "Look."

The table under Phoenix was already starting to freeze.

"Do you think he can recover from this?" asked Alfred, "That wound passes straight through his heart. There's no way any human could survive that."

"But this kid isn't a normal human," said Batman, "His abilities require energy he gathers from heat and they seem to still be active. I think that, if he can absorb enough energy, he could regenerate completely."

"Or he could overload and explode," pointed out Alfred.

"Thats a risk we're going to have to take," said Batman, "I need to know what did this to him. This is way beyond anything I've ever seen before."

"Oh very well," said Alfred, "So I take it you wanted the furnace to give him enough heat to absorb?"

Batman nodded.

"Exactly. Help me get his clothes off. I don't think he'll appreciate it if his uniform gets destroyed."

"Very well sir," said Alfred.

They quickly stripped Phoenix down to his underwear and Batman lifted him up, carried him over to the furnace.

"You don't intend to just put him inside do you?" asked Alfred as he folded up the young Heros clothes.

"Why not?" asked Batman, "Its the best way to get as much energy as possible to him and the Phoenix rises from the ashes of its former body."

"I hope you know what you're doing sir," said Alfred, "I'll go and wash and repair these clothes. Hopefully he'll be needing them soon."

Batman nodded as he opened the furnaces hatch.

"I hope this works," he muttered, before throwing the body inside.

The effect was instantaneous as the furnace exploded, sending chunks of metal everywhere, leaving a ball of fire floating in the air like a miniature sun. Batman took a step back as the fireball pulsed, throwing out thin streamers of fire that writhed through the air like snakes. The fire slowly shifted, changing from a ball to the form of a vaguely human shape in the fetal position with the shifting tendrils forming into wings. The human figure slowly uncoiled, strengthening into a standing position as the fire around where they eyes would be shifted, revealing twin pools of blazing red energy. Batman tensed as the figure slowly lifted its hands.

" **Holy cow, this feels weird,"** he said, making Batman relax.

A moment later, the fire seemed to be sucked into the figure, starting at his feet and working its way up, leaving unmarked pale skin in its wake, until the last of the fire formed into the tips of Rich's blond hair, leaving the Phoenix completely unscathed. The only difference was a scar on his chest where he'd been stabbed and a few streaks of silver in his hair.

"Very impressive Richard," said Batman, "Are you OK?"

"I think so," said Rich, "I have to say that dying and coming back is an extremely odd feeling."

"I'm sure," said Batman, "But who was it that took you down? I've been watching you and no normal criminal could beat your powers."

"Thats true," said Rich, "He called himself Bane and he had some kind of drug that turned him into a monster. He was so strong I don't think I could have dealt with him, even if I was at full power."

Batman gave the younger Cape a look.

"I got into a fight with a couple of Metahumans just before I met him," explained Rich, "I made the mistake of showing off rather than just beating them. As a result, my energy was drained, otherwise I'd have got the hell out of dodge."

Batman nodded.

"I hope you learnt something from this then," he said, "You may apparently be immortal, but I don't think that throwing yourself into harm's way is particularly healthy."

"Very true."

"Any idea of how to beat him?" asked Batman.

"Only that we'll need something to give us an edge," said Rich, "I'm stronger than a normal Human, but I know for a fact I can't match up to that monster. I doubt my fire will do much either."

"Hmmm, alright, I'll see what I can do," said Batman.

"Great, in the meantime, I don't suppose you have any clothes I could borrow?" said Rich, indicating to his naked form.

"No need," said Alfred as he emerged from the lift with a bundle in his arms.

The butler was wearing a domino mask over his eyes.

"Here you are, washed and repared," said Alfred, handing Rich the bundle.

"Cheers," said Rich, slipping his uniform back on, "So Bats, what do you intend to do now? Bane said he'd be coming after you next."

Batman narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.

"Hmm, I may have an idea," he said, glancing over at a pile of half finished parts and giant arms, "It will take a bit of time to finish though."

"Fair enough," said Rich, "Until then, I suggest you keep your head down. I know I will be."

He waved and started making his way to the exit of the cave.

"Wait," said Batman.

"Hmm?"

The Dark Knight held out a Batwave transmitter.

"Take this," he said, "I'll let us keep in touch."

Rich took the offered gadget and looked at it.

"Thanks, but I thought you weren't big on teamwork?"

"I'm not, but since you're here to stay, I might as well take advantage of it," said Batman.

"Fair enough," said Rich, slipping the transmitter into his coat, "See ya around Bats."

Fire erupted around him and he vanished.

* * *

Rich POV

I reappeared in my apartment and immediately dropped onto my settee with a groan. I felt surprisingly good considering I'd basically just came back from the dead, but that was only physically. My healing factor was good, incredible even, but it didn't do anything to fix my mental state and I had just been beaten to a pulp and, well, killed. As such, I was feeling the affects and it did NOT feel good. I think I'll be having nightmares for a while.

"Well, I guess that'll teach me to not get killed in the future," I muttered, getting to my feet and stripping of my uniform.

* * *

My prediction was proven correct when I woke up the next morning after a night of rather horrible dreams with a pounding head from lack of sleep and in a distinctly foul mood.

"Wow, you look terrible this morning," said Barbara as we walked to school together.

"I feel terrible," I said, "I barely got an hours sleep last night."

"Bad dreams?" asked Barbara.

"Yeah, really bad," I said, "I'll be OK though."

"By the way, what happened to your hair?" asked Barbara.

I grimaced and tugged on one of the white strands that now marked my blond hair. Fortunately it wasn't that noticeable, due to my hair colour, but still it was something else that could be used to ID me if anyone noticed that both Phoenix and Richard Fenix were sporting the same style choices.

"Thought I'd try a new look," I said, "What do you think?"

"I think you should have gone with a darker colour if you wanted them to stand out," said Barbara.

I just shrugged as we turned into the school gates.

"Hey there Red, Blondie," said Pam as she pushed off the tree she had been leaning against, "Bit behind schedule aren't you?"

"Eh, I slept in," I said, "Besides, its not like we're late."

"True," said Pam, "Come on, lets go."

We headed towards the school to a small garden area where we spent most of our time hanging out. We were just reaching the hangout when a voice called out.

"Hey Pamela!"

We turned and I nearly face planted when I saw a familiar bust and head of blond hair coming towards us.

"There you are, I've been looking everywhere," said Tsukiumi as she approached us, "Come on, we still need to finish that project if we want to get it in today."

Pam sighed and facepalmed.

"Damn, sorry, I completely forgot," she said, "Sorry guys, but I need to go."

"Its cool," said Barbara, "See you later."

I just smiled and nodded, turning to head to Homeroom.

"Wait."

I froze, stiffening slightly as Tsukiumi walked up to me.

"Could it be…?" she said, looking me up and down, "You looks so familiar…"

Suddenly I knew how Kagari felt in this situation as I nearly took a leaf out of his book and fell face first to the floor.

"You look a lot like this guy I know, but perhaps its simply a chance resemblance."

"I guess it must be," I said, "My names Richard Fenix, nice to meet you."

"Sally Jackson, likewise," said Sally, "Excuse me."

Sally rejoined Pam and they headed off together, leaving Barbara and I stood in the hall.

"Did you know her?" asked Barbara.

"No, not at all," I said, "Come on, lets go."

We headed off to class.

* * *

Later that evening, I was sat at my desk doing my homework, when the Batwave transmitter Batman had given me suddenly went off, nearly making me jump. I grabbed the communicator and answered the call.

"Need something Bats?" I asked.

"I'm done with my preparations," he said.

"Wow, that was quick," I said, "I thought you said it would take a few days?"

"It didn't take as long as I thought," said Batman, "Before I go, any advice?"

"Don't let him get his hands on you and whatever you do, do not let your guard down," I said, "He's a lot faster and smarter than he looks."

"Right, I'll keep that in mind," said Batman.

"Do you need any help?" I asked.

"No, I think I've got it covered," said Batman.

"Right, call me if you need help," I said.

"Understood."

I dropped the communicator as it went dead and leant back in my chair with a sigh I suppose I could go out and hang around to see if he did need any help during the fight, but he was at full health and Batman was more than capable of taking care of himself. Besides, I needed to at least try and get some sleep if I wanted to be any use tomorrow without icing over the buildings boiler. With that in mind, I shutdown my computer and went to bed.

 **And done. I hope you liked Rich's rather flashy reentrance.**

 **Rich's regeneration is capable of fixing nearly anything short of complete annihilation of his entire body. However, like all of his abilities, it requires energy in the form of heat. Under normal circumstances, recovering from an injury like that would take upward of three days, during which time, Rich would be in a deathlike state. However, drop him in a fire or something and he rises in no time.**

 **Bats will still be dealing with Bane with the Batbot, but without getting the crap beaten out of him first. Rich is keeping out of it because he knows he wouldn't have a chance.**

 **Bit of humor in school. Sally isn't talking old fashioned because I can't be arsed to do it while shes not in costume. Also yes, she is named for Percys mother. No she will not be getting with Poseidon. Its a name only.**

 **And with that, I'm done. Time to sign out! Until next time, leave a review!**


	6. Chapter 6

Rise of the Phoenix

Apparently dieing before your time causes trouble for more than just you, as I discovered after burning to death. Now I'm in everyone's favorite shithole, Gotham, trying to make my way as a freelance hero on the Dark Knights turf.

 **And we're back for more. Sorry for the wait, but writers blocks a bitch. Hope you enjoy!**

Chapter 6

The next day, the capture of Bane was all over the news. That was a good sign, apparently Bats had been able to beat him with no trouble. I was just glad I didn't have to worry about that oversized druggy for a while.

"In other news, a rash of mysterious jewelry heists has been going across Gotham," said the newsreader, "All of the heists have all been from highrise apartments with no evidence of break ins or even how the perpetrator has obtained entry to the apartments."

"Huh, apparently Cobblepots making his move," I said, turning the TV off, "I think I'll leave this up to Bruce. He's better equipped to deal with Penguin anyway."

I let out a sigh and stood.

"Well, I got stuff to do today anyway," I said, "Starting with laundry. Joy."

I grabbed my laundry basket and left my apartment, heading downstairs to the laundry room. I entered the room in the basement, only to nearly walk into a woman coming the other way.

"Oh, sorry," I said, stepping back to allow the woman through.

"Oh, its no problem," said the woman, "I take it that you are Mr Fenix?"

I nodded.

"Thats me."

"I'm Miya North, the Landlady," said the woman, "Its nice to finally meet you face to face."

"Likewise," I said, inwardly trying to decide whether I should be braining myself on a washing machine or running away screaming.

Why you ask? Well, you know how I'm a dead ringer for Homura and I've ran into both the Lightning Twins and Tsukiumi? Well, apparently they were only the tip of a very scary iceberg. What makes me say that? Well, Miya was yet another example of whatever immortal bastard was responsible for sticking me in this world thats even more fucked up than the normal DC universe. She had fair skin, brown eyes and waist-length purple hair with shorter bangs in a hime style. Not only did she look like the Miya from Sekirei, but every single one of my instincts was yelling at me to get the hell out of her way, something I was extremely inclined to listen too.

"Hmm? Is something wrong?" asked Miya.

I shook my head and realized I was staring at her.

"Sorry, you just look like someone I know," I said, quickly coming up with an excuse that wouldn't end in me being on the receiving end of a Hannya mask if this Miya was anything like her look alike.

"Oh, all right," said Miya, not looking convinced, "Well, I would love to chat, but I have a lot to do today."

I nodded and moved to step past her into the laundry room.

"Oh, Mr Fenix, before I forget," she said, making me pause and look back, "Please do be careful not to bring back any of your work, OK? Violence will not be tolerated here."

I recoiled as Miya smiled sweetly and a purple mask appeared over her shoulder, accompanied by a feeling of DOOOOOOOOM! And yes, the capitals and exclamation mark is necessary.

"G-got it boss!" I yelped, backpedaling away from the scary lady and slamming the door to the laundry room as quickly as I could.

I leant against the door, panting for breath as a cold sweat dripped down my forehead. That had been one of the scariest things I had ever seen, even more so than when Bane had cornered me. With him, I knew that he could and would kill me, but also that, if I hadn't been weakened from fighting the Lightning Twins, I could have beaten him or at least had a chance to escape. With Miya though, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that she would kill me if I crossed her, no ifs, ands or buts. It didn't matter if I ran, she would find me. And she would kill me. Likely very painfully.

I took a deep breath to steady my nerves and pushed off the door, grabbing my washing basket and making my way over to the nearest washing machine. Hopefully a mundane task like laundry would get my mind straight. It was only after I finished loading up the machine that I came to a horrible realization. Considering that I had now met four Sekirei look alikes, who else would I meet. And on what side?

"RICH!"

I nearly jumped out of my skin as someone shook my shoulder, jerking me out of my revery. I looked up to see Barbara stood next to me, looking at me with concern in her eyes.

"Are you OK?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said, "Just thinking…"

"Well, if you're sure," said Barbara.

I smiled at my friend and took a deep breath. Scary landlady's aside, there was no need to start panicking. Sure, Miya being here was a dangerous sign that I could meet some really nasty people in the future, it wouldn't do to dwell on it now.

"By the way, me and Pam are going to a psychology lecture at the town hall later," said Barbara, "Want to come?"

I raised an eyebrow at her.

"That doesn't really sound like the sort of thing that Pam'd enjoy," I said.

Barbara shrugged.

"Its not, but it sounds really interesting, so I managed to convince her. So, you coming?"

"Nah," I said, "I'm not really that interested in psychology."

"Really? To bad. The guy doing its supposed to be some sort of genius in the field."

I just shrugged and turned to conversion to other topics.

* * *

Later, I was sat in my living room, idly flicking through the channels when I landed on the news, which was reporting on a recent retrial of a mob boss Batman had taken down.

"In a shocking twist, the feared Mob boss and drug king, Carmine Falcone, has recently been declared insane and transferred to Arkham Asylum at the order of world renowned psychiatrist and recent addition to the Asylum's staff, Dr Jonathan Crane," said the newscaster.

I had just taken a sip of tea and promptly spewed it over my coffee table at the mention of Crane.

"Falcone is the latest in a number of criminals who have been admitted to Arkham on Dr Crane's orders," continued the newscaster, "According to reports, Falcone has been heard rating about a 'Scarecrow'."

"FUCK!" I shouted, slamming my fists down onto the coffee table.

This was really bad. In my opinion, Crane was one of the most dangerous of Batmans Rogues after the Joker. The man was completely mad after all and his obsession with fear meant that he'd happily gas the entire city, just for an experiment. Sure, Joker would do the same for less, but I'd rather die laughing then screaming. Wait…

My eyes widened in horror as I remembered the invitation Barbara had given me. A psychology lecture being given by a genius in the field...it couldn't be. Could it? I snatched up my phone and dialed Barbara's number. Better safe than sorry after all.

"Hey Rich, you need something?" said Barbara's voice down the line as she picked up.

"Hey Barb," I said, "I was just wondering, you know that lecture you told me about?"

"What about it?" she asked, "If you want to change your mind about coming, your a bit late. Its about to start. Speaking of, I need to turn my phone off so can we make this quick?"

"Will do," I said, "Do you know who it is that's doing the lecture?"

I held my breath, praying I was wrong and my friends weren't about to be stuck in the same room as a man who managed to scare the Joker.

"Oh, its Dr Crane," said Barbara.

The blood drained from my face.

"Barbara, you have to…" I started.

"Sorry Rich, I gotta go," said Barbara, "The lectures starting. I'll talk to you later."

"NO, WAIT..!"

CLICK.

I sat there, frozen as the dial tone sounded in my ear. This wasn't good. Crane was out of my league. Hell, the main reason I was avoiding confrontations with Batman's rogues was because they were good enough to give the Dark Knight trouble, and he was a highly skilled fighter who was trained by NINJA for gods sake, while I was just a kid with some talent and powers. I was doing fine against thugs and street level crime, but going up against one of the Batmans longest running and scariest rogues...no, just no. Still, its not like I could just do nothing. Pam and Barbara were my friends and I knew I'd never forgive myself if they got hurt.

I stood and hurried into my room, opening the bottom draw in my desk and reaching into the back where my Batwave communicator was hidden. I put my finger over the button to call Batman, only to hesitate. What could I say to him? I had no proof that Crane was behind Falcone and his goons snapping or that he was probably going to gas the entire audience at his lecture. Hell, I didn't even know for sure if he would, other than the fact that a bunch of criminals had been hit by his Fear Toxin and it seemed like something Crane would do. If I went to Bats with such flimsy reasoning, he'd probably just laugh. Or just grunt and ignore me.

Either way, that left me with two options. Option one, I stay put and hope I'm wrong or option two, head out and make sure it doesn't, potentially having to go up against Scarecrow in the process. Tough choice. I groaned and replaced the communicator in my draw and slammed it shut. I stood and opened my wardrobe, reaching into the back and pushing the false back open. I didn't like it, but there's no way I'm running the risk of my friends getting hurt because I was too much of a coward to protect them. I grabbed my uniform out of its hiding place and slipped it on.

* * *

Gotham University lecture theater, Barbara's POV

"Who was that?" asked Pam as Barbara hung up the call and turned her phone off.

"Oh, it was Rich," said Barbara, "He wanted to know who was hosting the lecture."

"Why would he want to know that?" asked Pam.

"Not a clue," said Barbara, "But it sounded like he was worried about something. Maybe I should…"

Before she could finish, the lights dimmed as a short, skinny man with lank, greasy looking black hair, overlarge glasses and an ill fitting suit stepped up to the podium.

"Good evening everyone," said the man, "I am Dr Jonathan Crane. Thank you all for coming down here tonight."

He pushed his glasses further up his nose.

"Tonights lecture will be on the subject of fear and how it affects people," he continued, "But first, I'd like to ask everyone a question."

He reached under the podium and pulled out what looked like a cross between a hessian sack and a gasmask and slipped it on.

"What do you think of my mask?"

A confused murmur rippled around the room. Barbara and Pam glanced at each other in confusion as the older red-head coughed lightly.

"Whats he talking about?" asked Pam.

"I have…" started Barbara, before she was cut off by a loud scream.

A moment later, another scream erupted for no apparent reason and before Barbara knew it, people were collapsing in terror.

"Whats going on?" she yelled, turning to Pam again.

However, as soon as her eyes fell on her friend, she frozen in horror. Somehow, Pan had been replaced by a creature Barbara could only describe as horrifying. It looked like it was made of countless thick, thorny vines wrapped around each other to create an approximate human shape, while its head resembled a flower bud, only full of razor sharp teeth and opening and closing like a mouth. Barbara let out a yell of terror and tried to run, only for her legs to give way under her as she tried to stand. She scrabbled back away from the plant monster, looking around wildly for a way to escape. However, all that did was reveal that the entire room was now full of writhing creatures, each more horrible than the last. She screamed in terror as her heartbeat sped up to a rate that the tiny part of her mind to engulfed in terror noted was likely dangerous.

" **Oh, whats this?"** said a deep, flanged voice as a dark figure emerged from the writhing mass of monsters and crouched over her, **"This one can still move? Impressive."**

Barbara let out a terrified whimper as she saw the being stood over her. It resembled a scarecrow clad in a tattered black suit that seemed to be leaking a thick, red liquid.

" **Yes, I think you will make an excellent research subject,"** said the Scarecrow, reaching for her with clawed fingers.

However, before it could touch her, a warm, bright light appeared, slamming into the Scarecrow and sending it flying back towards the stage.

"Over my dead body!" snarled Barbara's savoir in a voice so pure that it cut through the girls fear and ignited the embers of her courage.

The red-head slowly looked up, only for her eyes to burn in protest as she beheld her savior. He stood above her, radiating a brilliant white light that seemed so pure it was like looking into the sun. The light was warm and comforting, like her Fathers embrace, and seemed to chase away the darkness and fear. Then, it turned to face her. Barbara gasped as she saw twin orbs of fire that looked like miniature suns that seemed to burn into her from beneath a head of silver and gold fire as he crouched beside her.

"I'm sorry," said the being of fire.

Barbara was confused. What could this clearly divine being possibly have done to warrant an apology to someone like her.

"Wait here Barbara, this won't take long," said the firy being, "I'll make sure you and Pam get out of this in one piece."

The being stood and turned to face the Scarecrow, its flames increasing in intensity as six, beautiful golden wings emerged from its back.

"I'm only going to say this once," growled the Angel, "Give up and I won't have to hurt you to badly."

The Scarecrow just laughed.

" **HA, now why would I want to do that?"** sneered the Scarecrow, **"This experiment is just beginning! No one can stop me now, not the Police, not the Batman and certainly not you!"**

The Angel sighed.

"Well, I guess I tried," he said, "Then again, now I get to make you suffer. You hurt my friends, now I hurt you!"

Fire erupted around the Angel with a mighty cry as a sickly yellow miasma leaked out of the Scarecrow's sleeves.

 **And there we go, done! Again, sorry for the wait, but I couldn't decide what to do next since the next canon event I have planned is Freeze, but I didn't want to just jump straight there. I had a few ideas, but none of them seemed right. Then I remembered Crane.**

 **Scarecrow doesn't appear in The Batman cartoon, but hes one of my favourite of Batman's Rogues, hes just so cool! I decided I might as well have him as Phoenix's rogue instead. You can be sure he'll show up again.**

 **Crane's design is based on Cillian Murphy's portail from the Nolan films, but his costume later will be based on the greatest incarnation of the Scarecrow in my opinion, the one from Arkham Asylum.**

 **Getting of Scarecrow now, Miya will have a fairly large role later. For now, shes just a scary Landlady who somehow knows a lot more than she should. How does she know it? Well, lets just say she knows how to hide in the shadows and leave it at that.**

 **And with that, I'm done. Hope you liked it and until next time, this is Dis Lexic, signing off.**


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